Boardgames and How to Win Them

So last night, I played a couple of games with JT and her sister; 2 rounds of Ticket to Ride and a round of Lords of Waterdeep. And by luck and/or skill (mostly luck I think) I won all 3 - also NO DICE WERE INVOLVED!

As such I just wanted to share my tactics as they apply to these games (although many of the themes can apply to any game or scenario).

Ticket to Ride

1. Don't be afraid to get rid of a ticket. At the start of Ticket to Ride, you get 3 destination tickets. First of all work out how these routes could work together and if they don't get rid of one.
2. Have a clear plan. How are you going to complete (and connect your routes)? This gives you an idea of what colours you need to collect as well as what routes are vital to you (and which ones have multiple options).
3. Flexibility. Don't be afraid to change your route. You have an original plan but if your heading into traffic then go elsewhere if you can.
4. Keep them guessing. Start at one end of a route and go to the other end. This ties up one end of your route, stops you having to take detours if a gap you've left is filled, and hopefully makes your route more likely to be continuous (for longest route).
5. Zero points is sometimes the best place to be! Well for the early game anyway, the longer you can afford to just be collecting resources without playing the better - this ties into all the previous points and if you collect the right cards means you can then claim route after route and complete your tickets before anyway has opportunity to react.

Lords of Waterdeep

Lords of Waterdeep should be played in a similar way except for the following:

1. Play quests. Unlike ticket to ride, other players can interact with your resources so just stockpiling isn't as much of an option. Also quests have instant rewards (resources) as well as ongoing effects.
2. Only play your quest types. Unless there is a significant positive effect (ongoing effects etc) then don't play quests which aren't of your type. Our game was so close until we started counting up our "Lord" points. At this point I got 40 points and flew away!

So there's my short hints and tips section on these two games - any other advice from people would be appreciated.